WAL is the native utility and staking token of the Walrus decentralised storage protocol. Walrus is designed to provide efficient, secure and scalable decentralised blob storage for blockchain-based and decentralised applications. WAL is integral to the protocol’s operation, functioning as a staking mechanism that underpins data availability, incentivises correct behaviour among storage nodes and enables protocol-level governance.

The WAL token operates on the Sui blockchain, which serves as the control plane for Walrus. Unlike storage networks that use bespoke chains, Walrus leverages Sui for managing metadata, payments, staking and economic coordination.

WAL is primarily used to:

• Stake on storage nodes: WAL holders can delegate their tokens to storage nodes. This determines the distribution of storage responsibilities across the network by assigning "shards" proportionally to the stake delegated to each node.
• Secure storage guarantees: Staked WAL is subject to rewards or slashing depending on whether nodes meet their commitments to store and serve blob data. This mechanism helps ensure data availability and integrity.
• Pay for network services: WAL is used to pay for uploading data (writes) and reserving storage capacity (storage resources) over a defined number of epochs. Pricing is set by nodes via a weighted voting mechanism.
• Participate in governance: WAL holders influence protocol parameters through token-based voting. This includes setting penalty levels for failed challenges, shard recovery obligations and economic policy adjustments.
• Support decentralised economic incentives: WAL underpins a decentralised market for storage and compute resources, enabling users and storage providers to enter long-term commitments without central enforcement.